8 Nov 13th-Nov 19th, 2025 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | this isn’t going away,” Nino Jr. said. “He has no fear because the cops have been over and nothing gets done.” Nino Jr. also told the officers that he was hesitant to physically discipline his son, at which point Willer enthusiastically endorsed subjecting the teen to physical violence. “You drag him, you hit him. He is a child — he only has rights from the government,” Willer told the father. “He has no rights from you. If you wish to beat him, beat him. If you wish to belt him, belt him.” The officers also advised Nino Jr. to throw his son “out on the streets” and to explore legal emancipation for Nino III so that he was no longer his father’s responsibility. Nino Jr. then took the officers to his son’s room. Nino III exited the room after the officers knocked, though Gries put a hand on his chest to restrain him from going to the room of his 18-year-old sister, who then came out of her room. Nino III told the officers that his father had tackled him and called him “a little bitch.” Nino III’s sister can be heard seeming to confirm his version of things. “I mean, I’m going to have to agree, I don’t think that’s OK,” she said. Shortly after this, Nino Jr. demanded his daughter turn over her phone and took her keys, telling her she was kicked out of the house. The officers, who the lawsuit notes are mandatory reporters and obligated to investigate claims of child abuse, cared little. “He can assault you — that is disci- pline when you’re a juvenile,” Willer told Nino III at one point. While corporal punishment is indeed legal in Arizona, the law says it must be “reasonable and appro- priate” and cannot result in injury. “Your dad should beat you,” Willer told him. “Other than sending you to the hospital, your dad should beat you.” At another point, Gries threatened to handcuff the 16-year-old. “We can put you in handcuffs right now…” Gries said. “Just detain you — because you’re being a little brat.” Notably, the DOJ found Phoenix cops regularly handcuffed minors without justi- fication. In a new “youth interaction policy” currently up for public comment, the Phoenix Police Department now says cops should not handcuff kids “to intimi- date or scare them” or cuff them when they “are not under arrest or detained and/or do not pose a safety risk.” Busted chin, broken wrist At one point during Nino III’s conversation with the officers, he took out his phone and began recording Willer, saying he wanted to get it on record that Willer said it was OK for his dad to hit him. Willer then snatched the phone away from Nino III, who turned to grab for it. Seconds later, he was on the ground, bleeding profusely from his chin. The officers claimed in their incident report that as Nino III grabbed for the phone, he pushed officers and moved as if to punch them. “The son used his left arm and pushed it against my chest and balled up his right fist and extended it toward me,” Willer wrote in his report. “I believed he was attempting to strike me in the face for taking the cell phone.” However, body-cam footage does not clearly show Nino III do anything but grab for his phone after Willer snatched it from his hands. Whatever Nino III did, the officers responded by physically restraining him, throwing him against the wall and then sweeping his leg so that he landed face- down on the floor with a thud. Body-cam footage shows blood immediately covering the floor from a gash in his chin. “You’re going to jail for aggravated assault,” Willer shouted over the teen. Nino III’s attorney said the charges against him were later dismissed without prejudice. The officers then picked up Nino III and walked him outside the house — as he is being escorted out, body-cam footage shows Nino Jr. pointing at his bleeding and handcuffed son and saying, “See what I told you?” — and sat him down on the curb while they waited for paramedics from the Phoenix Fire Department to arrive. During that time, Nino III complained “more than 25 times,” per the lawsuit, that his cuffs were too tight and that he was losing circu- lation in one of his hands. The officers dismissively told him the cuffs were fine, although body-cam footage does show them checking the cuffs at several points. Once Nino III was at a hospital, nurses alerted the officers that one of his wrists was broken. ‘He Has No Rights’ from p 6 Phoenix police officer Blake Willer snatches a phone from Sergio Nino III. (Phoenix Police Department) >> p 9
